ABSTRACT The general objective of this research was to assess the production and marketing of maize for poverty reduction to smallholder farmers in Hanga and Mlilayoyo village in Namtumbo District. The specific objectives included to investigate expenses on major inputs on maize production per acre; to assess the economic relationship between the expenses for agricultural inputs and the output in terms of the value of bags of maize per acre; to identify and analyze maize price setters and de...
ABSTRACT Finger millet is one of the important traditional, nutritious and drought tolerant food crop grown by small scale farmers in most arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) of the world. In the ASALs of Kenya, finger millet is grown by small scale farmers who mainly grow low yielding unimproved varieties. Improved high yielding and recommended varieties are available but the farmers’ adoption is very low contributing to persistent food insecurity in these areas. The purpose of this study wa...
EXTENDED ABSTRACT Natural resource use conflicts are a global phenomenon and in Sub-Saharan Africa, such conflicts can be extreme leading to deaths of farmers and pastoralists. The most-reported conflicts over natural resource use occur between farmers versus farmer, pastoralists versus pastoralists, ethnic groups and state and communities to mention a few. Farmers and Pastoralists conflicts are the concern of this study. However, the literature on the effects of conflicts on both well-being...
Abstract The purpose of this research was to examine the effectiveness of the adaptation strategies employed by women smallholder farmers in the face of climate change and variability using Chayamiti as the case study. The study aimed at exploring the effectiveness of adaptation strategies employed by Chayamiti women farmers paying particular attention to climate sensitive livelihoods such as agriculture, food security and health sector that are most likely to be affected by the violent proj...
Cereal banks in Kenya were started by Government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society with the aim of enhancing local food security, improving incomes and livelihoods for maize farmers through collective marketing. Despite efforts of establishing them, majority have collapsed once outside support is withdrawn. Generally it is known that farmer organizations including cereal banks tend to collapse if there is no participation in group activities, poor group manag...
Abstract Tea plays an important role in Kenya as it contributes about 26% of foreign exchange earnings and supports approximately five million people. Since independence, the Tea Industry has experienced rapid growth in acreage under tea production and in both export volumes and incomes. The smallholder tea sub-sector accounts for about 60% of the Kenyan tea production. Despite this state, the cost of production has also been on the increase. However, even as the percentage return to the far...
ABSTRACT The study aimed to develop an ICT based framework that can be able to disseminate agricultural information to small scale farmers at the local levels. The study was conducted in Kondoa District Council. The study used qualitative and quantitative approach. The study adopted cross-section survey design. The sample size was calculated from population of four purposely selected wards of Kondoa District Council. Questionnaire, interview, observation and documentary review were used as a...
Abstract: The socio-economic livelihoods of grapevine farmers can partly be improved through their ability to avert the impacts of climate change circumventing grapevine production. Grapevine farmers’ ability to cope with climate change is determined by the application of adaptation strategies which minimize impacts on grapevine production. However, the influence of grapevine production factors on grapevine farmers’ adaptive capacity to climate change is not well known. This compelled to ...
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to determine if there is significant increase in output of the Nigerian farmers after micro credit loan had been obtained. The study made use of secondary data predominantly, especially data from the Nigeria Agricultural Co operative and Rural Development (NACRDB). The Statistical tool used in the analysis are : Difference between tow means of X and Y variable; spearman correlation coefficient of variations and finally the Z test. At the end o...
Abstract: Teff is among the most widely grown cereals in Ethiopia. It accounts for about 24% of total cultivated land and 17.6% of gross grain production. It is a staple diet for greater than 50 million peoples, which is important in the national food security. However, the productivity varies from very low at around 15.8 qt/ha to the highest productivity of 25 qt/ha and research field trials reaching 40-50 qt/ha. The study aimed to measure technical efficiency of farmers in teff production ...
ABSTRACT Inefficiencies in maize production do not only have adverse effect on the output of maize but it also poses a serious threat to income generation, food security and the general welfare of the people. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the level and determinants of technical efficiency of maize farmers. The proportionate stratified and simple random technique was used to select 306 maize farmers. Descriptive statistics was used to describe farm and farmer specific characte...
Abstract The study was carried out to investigate the gender and resource use efficiency in cocoyam production in Anambra State, Nigeria. The study presents the results of analysis of data collected on 160 male and female cocoyam farmers across two Agricultural zones in the state. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select the zones. Descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequencies, means and tables were used in analyzing farmer’s socio-economic characteristics and ...
ABSTRACT Agriculture is an important sector in developing countries serving most people in rural areas as their main means of livelihood. About 84% of agriculture activities in Tanzania are done by smallholder farmers. Cotton is an important cash crop for many countries in the world. In Tanzania cotton is a major cash crop in the western cotton growing area, which includes Mwanza, Shinyanga, Mara, Simiyu, Geita, Tabora and Singida regions. The cotton subsector is known to involve expensive a...
Abstract The study investigated the factors influencing adoption of improved cultivars of macadamia (Macadamia spp.) among small-scale farmers in Embu County, Kenya. Data was collected from a sample of 384 small-scale farmers obtained through multistage sampling procedure in ten sub-locations. Binary Logit model was used to determine the effect of selected institutional and socio-economic factors on adoption of improved cultivars of macadamia. The results revealed that education level (wald=...
ABSTRACT The study examined the efficiency of resource use by maize farmers in the eastern agricultural zone of Kogi State, Nigeria. The objectives of the study are to describe the socio-economic characteristics of maize farmers, determine the input-output relationship of maize production, determine the resource-use efficiency in maize production, and to identify the constraints to maize production in the study area four-staged sampling procedure was used, with a sample size of one hundred an...